Created for Pleasure (2/29)

Dear Church Family,

What if I were to tell you that we were created for pleasure?  C.S. Lewis said, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.”  In other words, pleasure itself is not the enemy, but that we seek it in the wrong things.  Often times, the reputation of Christianity is that God is a killjoy.  I remember growing up feeling cautious about the dangers of religious fervor.  Full commitment to Christianity meant that God would send you to Africa to live with Pygmies.  In 2009 I met the Leonard family: Yves, Christine and their three girls who went to work and live with the Baka Pygmies in Cameroon.  It felt like God ,  with His sense of humor, was saying, “Look at this beautiful family, do they look like they’re suffering?”

So, we often hold back in our zeal out of fear of experiencing what God has designed for us in favor of what we think feels safe.  The end result?  We develop a sheltered or truncated version of Christianity that looks very unattractive to the rest of the world.  Some might call this “Putting God in a box”.

It’s humorous to think we could even do that, but God often lets us and He moves on to those who genuinely want to experience the fullest life possible by fully surrendering to Him and experiencing METANOIA.  This is a word I’ve been teaching the congregation which means conversion, repentance or turning 180 degrees from what you’re presently experiencing.

So it appears God gives a choice: A) Keep living your restrained, contained, common sense version of life or B)  Let go and see what God will do with someone who is ready for a supernatural transformation.

The message on Sunday is “Why We Do What We Do: Part 3” discussing the different aspects of our service.  Our Scripture readings are:  1 Chronicles 29:1-14; Matthew 6:19-34